End of the World
by weewah
Summary: When negotiations with their parents go sour, Hachiman and Yukino are forced to use their last resort: Elopement. Yet despite the extreme amounts of time and money invested in their plan, things start to go very, very wrong...
1. Day 1

**Author's Note: Pre-emptive apologies to QS, I had this idea before you said not to, and it was too interesting to leave unpublished.**

* * *

Day 1  


Elopement.

It was the last resort, yet somehow we knew it would always come down to this.

The values we held and the values held by Yukino's parents were too different and incompatible. Even as the words "Do you not care about your daughter's happiness at all?" were leaving my mouth, I had already somewhat predicted the answer.

"What about it? As a member of the Yukinoshitas, it is her privilege and duty to prioritize the needs of the clan over the needs of an individual."

What I had not predicted was the objections from my own parents.

"Hachiman, you're still in high school, you shouldn't rush into things at such an early age."

"Your mother is right. Haven't you heard the saying 'Haste makes waste'? By rushing things, you could endanger yourself and everyone around you. Don't you understand? Your hasty decisions could cause the entire human race to be destroyed!"

It was as if they were unable to understand the importance of getting Yukino away from that toxic family as soon as possible. At one point my father even blurted out:

"Son, marriage is the graveyard of life! Why are you foolishly rushing towards it?"

 _Just what kind of crazy thing was he saying right next to his wife?_ Or so I was thinking when my mother followed up with:

"I couldn't agree more with your father. How about just waiting a few more years? Say... when you are 21? When you are 21 we will fully support your relationship with that Yukino girl okay?"

At the time, I couldn't understand it at all.

In hindsight, it was obvious. I had always known my two parents were mere corporate slaves. Easily replacable employees who had to work themselves to the bone in order to avoid getting fired. I didn't know what their jobs actually were or what companies they worked at, but it wasn't hard to imagine that if the Yukinoshitas decided to put pressure on their companies, my parents would immediately become unemployed. Thus it was only natural for them to oppose my relationship with Yukino.

Or rather, that was precisely why we had to elope. If we stayed here, it was only a matter of time before the Hikigayas were crushed by the might of the Yukinoshitas. But if we disappeared, there would no longer be a reason to put pressure on my parents.

* * *

That was a week ago.

Frankly we were already supposed to be in our new home by now, yet...

"Damn! How the heck do they keep on finding us? This is the 7th time we have had to take a detour to throw them off our trail."

I groaned and muttered under my breath. We had already gotten rid of everything that could be used to track us. Cellphones, electronics, credit cards... we had even bought new clothes and ditched the ones we left our homes in, just in case they had been bugged. Yet everywhere we went seemed flooded with people who seemed to be looking for us.

Perhaps I was merely being paranoid. Even though we were now on the North American continent, a place with a very low percentage of Japanese residents, that didn't mean that every Japanese person we saw was after us. Yet whenever I saw one, whenever we made eye contact, whenever they started walking towards us, those actions would seem full of intent and my instincts would scream out to flee.

Each time that happened, we would escape in a direction orthogonal to our destination, and then hitchhike randomly for a few hours while calculating a new route to our new home.

I sighed.

The two of us were now heading in the correct direction via bus, an expense once again singlehandedly paid for by the money Yukino had saved from her exorbitant allowance. Whenever I thought of that I would feel incredibly guilty.

 _Was this truly the right choice?_ _Could I really give her happiness this way?_

I sighed again, and immediately found a finger pressed against my lips. The culprit smiled and winked.

"H-kun, you are currently on a honey moon trip with a girl of unparalleled beauty. Shouldn't you be more happy? With those dead eyes of yours, something like this would never happen again you know?"

I smiled back at her. Whenever she did something like this, she would be the splitting image of her elder sister. Yet their intentions were clearly different. Unlike the malicious, superficial playfulness of her sister that instilled nothing but terror, I could only feel genuine, loving playfulness from my wife-to-be.

Towards those pure-hearted actions, I chose to return them in kind. Her finger, so carelessly placed in such a dangerous location, was quickly and gently enveloped by my mouth.

"Ow!"

The extremely pleasant sensation on my tongue suddenly disappeared, as Yukino yanked back her finger on reflex.

"Sorry! Did I accidentally bite you?"

 _I don't think I had put that much force in it..._

Seeing my guilty, concerned expression, Yukino hurriedly explained while showing me her finger. "Ah! No, that's not it Hachiman. I just cut my finger on something earlier and forgot about it, so when you touched the wound it just stung a little. It wasn't your fault."

There was indeed a cut on it. But it was starting to bleed again. I guess it had scraped against my teeth and reopened when she forcefully pulled it back. Yet this foolish girl had extended her finger towards me again.

 _Hmm? Wasn't she the smartest student in our grade? Why did she not learn from her mistake?_

Also, in her panic, she had mistakenly used my name instead of an initial or a pseudonym, even though the two of us were supposed to be in disguise. _Didn't this call for some punishment?_

While thinking that, I gave her finger a lick, and quickly got a smack on the head from her other hand.

"Ow! What? I was just treating your wound by licking it!" I protested. _Honest! It wasn't as though I couldn't get enough of how good her finger tasted or anything..._

"Ecchiman... I do hope you haven't been using that misconception to go around licking random girls to satisfy your endless lust. Licking wounds is actually an ill-advised medical procedure that can introduce the germs in your mouth directly into someone's bloodstream. Exactly how many other females you have infected with that twisted mentality of yours, I wonder?"

Under a stare that could put a yandere to shame, I quickly responded truthfully, "None! None! You're the only one I would do something like that to, Y-san!"

Or rather, did she really think anyone else would let me? It wasn't like finishing puberty had made me into a handsome or popular adult. I still had the same dead eyes as always, scaring away all boys and girls alike. Even Komachi would be creeped out if I was that physically intimate with her...

 _...N-not that I had tried you hear?!_

"I-Is that so." A faint blush had formed over Yukino's face. Apparently I had said something good for once.

"Alas, woe is me. To be forced to endure all of H-kun's insatiable sexual desires. To think that I will have to live out the rest of my days married to such an incurable pervert, I fear that it will not be long before I am defiled. But even so I shall endure and stay strong! Even as his twisted germs spread throughout my body and desecrate my purity, I will not give up. For if I don't entertain his foul whims, poor H-kun would be forced by his bestial instincts to unleash his criminal lust upon innocent ladies. Truly, for the sake of humanity, I have no choice but to deny myself and live to satisfy his monstrous wishes- mMPH!"

A flustered Yukino was cute too; I never got tired of hearing those long passages she used to hide her embarrassment. But we were currently on a bus full of other passengers, not in the peaceful isolation of the Service Club. Her frantic explanation was starting to bother the people around us, so I cleverly sealed her lips with a kiss.

* * *

A few hours later, the two of us were collapsed on a bench in a deserted park, in a city I didn't even know the name of.

"Haa... haa... this is... too much."

That was the 8th time we had been found.

Yukino grunted in agreement, too tired to even speak coherently. We had sent most of our luggage ahead of us, on a different route, so as to reduce the amount of stuff we had to carry. But as expected, all of this running around in this hot summer weather was starting to take its toll.

Personally, I was still doing well. A little out of breath maybe, but I always recovered quickly. It wasn't enough to beat Hayama in any kind of race, but I had some confidence in my stamina. In contrast, Yukino never had much physical stamina to begin with so she was in far worse shape than I was. It really looked like she would drop dead at any moment.

 _I have to take better care of her._

When she finally stopped panting, I made a suggestion. "Yukino, let's take our time and choose a slower route. If we keep rushing like this, our bodies will break before we arrive."

"Hachiman... that won't do... our luggage is probably already there... we have to get going..." she replied while wobbling and lifting herself off the bench.

As always, Yukino was right. Due to all the detours we had taken, all the boxes were probably already stacked up outside our door.

The first step of our elopement plan was to move to a small, rural village in the middle of nowhere and lay low for a few months. We would only return to civilization after the Yukinoshitas gave up on their searches, or at least reduced their efforts on them. Even without Yukino, they still had the capable Haruno Yukinoshita as an heir, so they probably wouldn't be so desperate as to keep up a full-scale search for years.

However, in such a desolate area, there was no guarantee that someone wouldn't steal our unprotected possessions. We wouldn't even be able to call the police for help since that would draw attention to us. Plus, even if they weren't stolen, every moment that they sat out there in plain sight was another moment someone could see them and realize there were people moving into that house.

But seeing her make those unsteady motions was seriously worrying. Hurriedly, I jumped up from the bench and supported her, as the two of us made our way to the next bus terminal.

* * *

 **Author's Note: After "End of the Affair" and "End of the Road" comes "End of the World"!  
**

 **So yeah, one chapter of fluff... and then... *points to the tragedy tag.* This will not end well for anyone. Be warned because things will start turning darker and darker, starting from the very next chapter.**


	2. Day 2 to 6

Day 2  


Another day, another park.

After escaping our pursuers for the 10th time, it was once again time to recalculate a new route. Or so I would like to say, but in reality, Yukino was always the one singlehandedly doing the math to determine our course of action, while I kept a lookout. It was an assignment of roles based on our strengths: the mathematically brainy did the computing while the stealthy did the field work.

Supposedly.

Even so, my role always felt more or less meaningless. So far, our pursuers had only appeared when we got off buses, not once had my guarding yielded any results.

I glanced over at the bench Yukino was sitting on. She was quickly flipping through a few notebooks with her left hand, while scribbling in another with her right.

The rapid pace of her work was a nostalgic sight, one I had encountered many times during the more bureaucratic service club requests. But that didn't mean it was a good sight. Memories of her overexerting herself and falling ill were still fresh in my mind.

And this time, Yuigahama wouldn't be here to help her out. Only I could fulfill that role now. It was time for me to take a turn at directing our escape plans, before Yukino's health took a turn for the worse.

"Yukino," I called out in a slightly solemn voice, prompting a short "Hmm?" from her. Yet her fingers continued the move and her eyes stayed glued to the pages.

Clearly, a firmer approach was in order. I placed a hand on top of the notebook she was reading, preventing her from flipping the page.

"Enough. You need to get some rest."

"But Hachi-"

"No buts." I proclaimed while claiming the books from her hands and taking a seat beside her. "Look, no one is going to find us here. Just close your eyes and relax for a bit, I'll take care of this stuff."

Yukino looked a bit dissatisfied, but she nodded reluctantly and handed over her writing tools.

Satisfied, I redirected my attention to the pages now within my hands. They were filled with maps and bus routes, along with their scheduled times. Information we had stealthily gathered before leaving Japan. The task? Figure out how to combine them efficiently.

It wasn't too hard. Just a bunch of numbers to check and compare... the warm feeling in my head was just me getting heated up about contributing for once. That or my brain was getting fried.

 _Ugh._

If we were still in Chiba it would have been easy. My love for my hometown naturally extended to its public transport services, so from buses to monorails, I knew every little detail about its transport network. But in this foreign land, and for a trip of such distance, the challenge felt beyond my means.

I lifted up the notebooks on my lap and held them out at arm's length, hoping that the increased distance would help in one way or another.

It did not.

In truth, there wasn't actually that much calculating involved. It wasn't as if we needed to do any multiplication or division for this kind of thing. Just years of bad experiences involving math assignments had nurtured within me an overwhelming feeling of rejection towards numbers, despite the fact that I was named after one.

As my brain continued to steadily overheat to a feverish level, another warm feeling manifested, this time around my thigh region.

The source was another pair of eyes, sneaking glances at the same books I was leafing through, albeit the fact that they were rotated 90 degrees from her point of view.

"Oi. Didn't I tell you to rest?"

"Oh? Well, I believe I am doing so, am I not?"

I looked down and as expected, the view of my jeans was obstructed by a playful smiling face. I countered with a frowning face of my own, but the effect was probably weakened by the heat which had migrated from my forehead to my cheeks.

"No, I really don't believe you are."

She was probably in a good mood from being offered this chance to rest, but wasn't this prank sort of defeating the purpose?

"Hmm... now that you mention it, I feel compelled to agree. By some stroke of misfortune, the only pillow I brought along has turned out to be too hard to provide any kind of comfort. But alas, I see no alternatives available."

 _I guess... but your choice of pillows is kinda troubling... in various ways..._

No, even like this, Yukino was doing her best to recover. She was joking about my lap pillow being too hard, but apart from Yukino herself it was probably the softest thing in the vicinity.

I forcefully returned my attention to plotting and scheming. This was no time to get distracted. In this day and age, most public computers had cameras guarding them as a crime prevention measure. So we couldn't exactly just walk into a public library or internet cafe and ask Google-sensei to compute the route for us unless we wanted to risk giving the Yukinoshitas a detailed picture of everything we were planning.

Then again, as far as I knew even Google-sensei didn't have an elopement mode that prioritized choosing routes with fewer cameras, so in the end we would still have to do most of the work manually.

 _Hmm..._

"Ah. That reminds me, you have a good memory don't you, Pillowgaya-kun?"

 _Hmm?_ "Yeah." _Not as good as yours though..._ "Why?"

I answered absentmindedly, but then something began rubbing against my thigh.

"O-Oi... what do you think you're doing?"

"I am just trying to make an imprint on my memory pillow. Is there a problem?"

"Yes! A big one!"

 _Stop nuzzling my leg, I can't focus like this!_

Any thoughts I had concerning which buses to take had just vanished into thin air, replaced by worries that Yukino's head would become covered in my body fluids. _I can already feel the sweat glands in my thighs activating!_

* * *

I gave up.

Thankfully, Yukino had quickly stopped fooling around and was now simply laying still on my lap. No matter how much of a good mood she was in, the truth was that she was really tired out.

And so was I. At least, mentally. The numbers I read from the pages simply danced about in my brain, not coming together into any sensible plan. Every route just seemed too fishy. Too dangerous. I kept imagining a scenario where we got off a bus and found ourselves surrounded.

Although the first few days of our escape had gone without a hitch, within the last few days we had run into them 10 times. It couldn't be a coincidence. Somehow, information about us was leaking. That or they had caught on to Yukino's thought patterns.

Either way, that meant it was a good time to change gears.

"Yukino, are you awake?" I whispered softly.

An "...nngh?" sound came from my lap, but otherwise there was no movement to indicate she was. Regardless, I continued.

"I have decided. Let's stop taking buses for now."

"...Meaning?"

"We will just use hitchhiking for a while."

Yukino had her methods, and I had mine. I shouldn't have tried to copy her methods in the first place. It was time to play my strengths.

That said, my hitchhiking suggestion didn't mean I had suddenly become a social butterfly with irresistable charm or anything. Nothing of the sort.

All that was needed was my ability to memorize the names of cities in the right direction, and read our drivers' body language to ensure they weren't dangerous criminals or pursuers in disguise. Both of which I could do with ease thanks to years of practice. After that, even if my looks turned them away, money would accomplish persuasion in ways words never could.

Compared to what we had been doing before, this new method was undoubtedly slower. But it was much stealthier, which meant we would save time from not having to run around randomly every time we were found.

Or so I reasoned to Yukino.

I received no response.

Either she had no objections, or she was too exhausted to even argue. I never found out.

* * *

Day 4

Either way, the new plan worked. Pursuers we had previously run into two or three times a day were now nowhere to be found. And before long, we finally arrived in the city closest to our target village.

As expected, a village this far out in the middle of nowhere wouldn't have anyone driving towards it, so the only way there was via public bus.

It was really just one more ride to go.

But then, without any warning, Yukino collapsed.

No, that wasn't really accurate. The warning signs had all been there, out in plain sight. We had just ignored them and doggedly continued on.

Deep down, I understood that it probably wasn't anything serious. Apart from my twisted mentality, the two of us were just normal everyday 18 year olds, not characters in some tragic play where the heroine would contract some life-threatening disease during their elopement.

If I looked at things rationally, the reason Yukino collapsed was likely to just some combination of stress, fatigue, sleep-deprivation and heatstroke. All of which she would naturally recover from as long as we stopped somewhere to rest and gave her plenty of fluids.

Yet, when the scene played out before my eyes... when Yukino suddenly dropped to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut... when she refused to wake up regardless of what I did... my emotions overruled all rational thinking.

Before I knew it, I was already in a hospital room, sitting beside Yukino's bed.

Even though she had regained consciousness, I still wouldn't let go of her hand.

"You shouldn't... have done that... Hachiman..." came the weak, lifeless voice from the person attached to an IV drip.

 _I know... I know..._

My hasty, ill-conceived decision to call an ambulance had probably blown our cover wide open. Before long, our pursuers would be descending on this city like vultures.

But even so... this entire plan... this entire elopement... this entire world... _what meaning did it have if I wasn't beside the woman I loved?_

Rather than any witty plans or cunning schemes, my brain was just filled with concern towards the one who addressed me. Even now, she was looking at me with gentle, reproachful eyes, bravely trying to put on a strong front so I wouldn't be worried.

She was acting as if she was ready to walk out the door at any moment and resume our 'honeymoon', but her deathly complexion and increasingly lifeless eyes that were just barely managing to stay open betrayed the truth. She was in no condition to go anywhere before she got some much needed rest.

And so, rather than answering her with words that could provoke another response, I just continued to hold her hand. It didn't matter if we would get caught, I just wanted her to be okay.

I berated myself.

All the preparations I had made for this trip... I had thought up so many crazy tricks and backup plans for when things went wrong... so why in the world did I not have one prepared for this situation? The only thing I could think of doing now was to hold her hand. A flimsy, unreliable method of giving her peace of mind while she rested.

Yet even this last plan was denied by the words that came next.

"Hachiman... go without me..."

"As if I could do that!" I yelled softly while tightening my grip on her hand.

I did realize that I was overreacting quite a bit. Even though the doctors had somewhat suspiciously insisted on extending Yukino's stay for further observation, they did state that no serious issues were found, so I had no reason to act like this.

On the contrary, continuing to act this way would most likely terrify the other patients in the room. Already, I could see some of them staring in our direction, probably wondering why I was acting as if Yukino was on her death bed, even though we were merely in a general ward for patients without any serious illnesses or injuries. If I kept this up, it wouldn't be long before they started wondering if perhaps this was actually a ward for terminally ill patients and their doctors had simply lied to them in hopes of some kind of miracle placebo effect.

But I didn't care. Somehow, instinctively, I felt that I couldn't let go of Yukino's hand. That I had to treasure this time together. As if this was the last time I would ever see her.

For in this cruel, twisted world, a desert filled with superficial beings who would never look past a person's surface appearance, Yukino was the one and only oasis I had found. There was no way I could just let her get captured here while I ran off alone.

To my surprise, Yukino began struggling to push herself up into a sitting position.

"Wait! What do you think you are doing? Stop! I will listen, so just lie down!"

With a soft thump, she fell back onto the bed. I couldn't tell whether it was because of my words or whether her muscles had simply given out. Perhaps it was both.

Slowly, she shook her head while mustering up her energy to speak. "I will be fine... You are the one in danger."

I gritted my teeth. Even now, rather than worrying about herself, she only worried about me.

Well, I did understand the point she was trying to make. Even if the Yukinoshitas caught her, Yukino wouldn't actually be hurt in any way. No matter how much they wanted to prevent her from eloping again, it wasn't as if they could just lock her up in chains or chop off her legs. To them, she had value only as a political tool, so if they were just going to hide it away or break it, there would be no meaning in capturing it in the first place. So while she would be placed under stricter surveillance, there would eventually be another opportunity to escape.

However, that line of logic only applied to Yukino. It wouldn't apply to me. If I was caught, there was nothing to prevent a future where I was truly locked up in chains.

Chains attached to a concrete block.

In the depths of the Tokyo Bay.

That wasn't anything new though. I had already known and accepted the risks from the start. If being by her side meant I would become food for the fishes, then so be it.

"I am not leaving you."

"You don't understand," she smiled weakly while continuing to shake her head. "What's important is... a safe place to go... I can only escape if there is somewhere... someone to welcome me..."

I wavered.

Indeed, it was true. It was a logical argument that made logical sense, appealing to what was left of my rationality. Rather than waste our chances because I was emotionally unable to accept it, leaving her behind to secure a safe haven promised better odds for our eventual success. But still, I couldn't move.

"Please," her smile widened. "It's all... for my own sake."

A blatant lie.

Even though we had promised to never lie to each other...

...no, that was probably precisely why she did it.

In the first place, while Yukino did occasionally hide secrets, she was never one to lie. That promise was really something I had proposed to bind myself rather than her.

But now, for the first time, Yukino had spoken a lie. And it was one with no chance of deceiving anyone. Everything was for my sake, and we both knew it. Emotionally, I still couldn't accept it, but...

"It's alright... I can get there by myself."

I gazed at her face. Her once luscious lips were now cracked and dry. Her once fair skin was now ashen and dusty. Both features indicating her ailing health, and both I had already observed while waiting for her to reawaken. But now a new one had appeared: furrowed eyebrows expressing how worried she was.

Worries that were preventing her from resting.

I suppressed my emotions and stood up. A better option for relieving Yukino's worries had presented itself. It went against everything I felt, and everything I wished for. I couldn't call it genuine in any way.

But that was exactly why Yukino had lied. To release me from our promise. Because this world wasn't such a nice place. It wasn't a world that would allow us to always live and act true to how we felt.

* * *

Day 6  


I arrived at the village.

Alone.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I feel terribly guilty about writing this fic. My inner Hayama dies when I read the reviews, because *SPOILER CENSORED SPOILER* Dang it can't say why x_X. *Guilt builds up inside*  
**

 **Also, it turns out the world I am in isn't so nice either. It definitely isn't one that allows me to live and write whenever I feel like it. Long story short, I might suddenly disappear for a few months without any warning. Sorry about that if it happens :(, I should have more time later in the year though.  
**

* * *

Anyway, my thanks to the reviewers,

daytonanerd/80K Hikigaya: Already did a psycho 8man fic, so not this time lol. Especially not after one of the reviewers pointed out a naked Yukino can take down crazy 8man...

bosdicha: To be honest, I have mixed feelings towards this story. Namely, because I can't write any twisted monologues when 8man is being all serious. D: I have so much twisted philosophy inside me with nowhere to go!

Killusion: Sorry, the title is just my chuuni naming sense at work, it doesn't actually have anything to do with the plots of affair and road.

Judicar Deimos: Uh oh. Realism, my worst enemy :X. I will try to answer some of these questions through the course of the story, but some developments I had planned probably fail that test. Hmm...


End file.
